Where The Lines Blur
by SlenderXLover
Summary: Oliver's in High School. He can tell that it's going to be a terrible year. Until a new girl Alyce comes into the picture...
1. Chapter 1

_Day one of Hell_, Oliver Thredson thought to himself, scowling. He was walking to school in freshly pressed, itchy corduroys, an uncomfortably tight button down shirt, and loafers that pinched his toes whenever he walked.

_I hate this place, I hate this place, I hate this place so fucking much._ Oliver couldn't wait until he finally escaped the wretched, god-forsaken hell that was given the innocent name of 'High School'.

He was almost done with school. One more year and he would be free.

Free of the choking hold of stupidity, free of his cold foster parents, free of his tainted shell. He would go to Stanford, or Harvard, or maybe Berkeley.

Anywhere would be better than here.

As he walked into the school building, he heard the all too familiar taunts.

_Nice glasses, spaz._

_I think my grandfather wants his clothes back._

_Is the psycho back again? _

He tripped over one of his bully's feet and tumbled forward, almost landing face-first on the ground. His papers and books were haphazardly strewn about the floors as he saw the faces of his tormentors laughing at him. He glared at all of them before he saw an unfamiliar girl picking up his papers and books.

She had long dark hair and tan, warm skin. Her eyes were large and dark. She smiled at him and handed him his school supplies.

He flushed and took them from her, walking in the other direction as fast as possible.

He got to his first class, AP Physics, before any of his other future class mates. He set down his 5-year old messenger bag on a desk and placed his books inside of the desk.

The teacher looked at him, undoubtedly judging him by his thick, tortoiseshell glasses and his old, worn clothes.

Oliver sat down and tried to avoid any eye contact with the students coming into the classroom.

"Pick whatever seats you would like. I trust you all to make good decisions," the teacher said, his voice slightly raspy.

Oliver hoped someone may choose him to sit next to, but no one did.

8:29

_One more minute until this school officially starts._

All of a sudden, a girl came rushing through the door as the final bell rung. She seemed disheveled and she was breathing heavily. She plopped down right next to Oliver.

To his surprise, it was the exact girl who had picked up his things in the hallway for him.

The teacher cleared his throat and introduced himself as Mr. Thompson.

He seemed like an alright guy to Oliver. He was smart, kind, and eager to get to know his students.

He gave them all a syllabus and told them what kind of experiments they would do throughout the year, how many tests there would be, and how much homework they would get.

Finally, the end of the class came, and Oliver rushed off to his next class, Calculus.

The girl with the dark hair seemed to be following him, which made Oliver extremely uneasy. Just as he was about to snap at her, she walked into Room 509. Calculus.

It seemed as though he would get the divine pleasure of being in yet another class with her.

In this class, they had seating arrangements.

_Great. It's as though I'm in grade school again._ Oliver thought bitterly as he found himself sitting next to the mystery girl again.

"What's your name?" she asked him, as he fidgeted in his seat.

"Oliver," he muttered, turning his attention to anywhere but her.

"That's a nice name! My name is Alyce," she told him. Her hair was soft and shiny looking. And she smelt really good.

He breathed in air slowly, as to not alert her that he was smelling her, and smelled strawberries and a more musky scent.

"So," she spoke again, feeling a bit awkward at his lack of response. "What do you like to do?"

"I like to read," he said softly. He wasn't quite used to people just coming up and talking to him. It was odd.

"Cool! What do you like to read?"

"Um, different things. I liked 1984 and Animal Farm."

"Those books were good," she agreed, smiling softly. Oliver couldn't help but think that the soft curve of her lips was absolutely beautiful. He quickly shook that thought out of his head.

He didn't have time for stupid, mind-clouding thoughts like those.

"Uh, yeah. I like satirical writings," he stuttered. She smiled again, her eyes were so dark and pretty…

He looked at the board, trying not to think about her. Or her long hair. Or her cupid's bow lips.

She seemed to realize that he didn't want to talk to her and so she turned her attention to anywhere but him.

Oliver felt slightly guilty. He shouldn't have made her feel so unwanted. It was very rude of him, especially after what she did to help him this morning.

He didn't quite know what to do, and all too soon, it was time to go to Anatomy.

She wasn't in that class. It felt like something was missing.

* * *

><p>At lunchtime, he didn't have anyone to sit with and he didn't have anything to eat. Per usual.<p>

Alyce was sitting alone, too, but he knew he would be intruding on her privacy if he were to go and sit with her, especially after how rude he was to her this morning.

Oh, but how he did want to go talk to her, to apologize at least. He cursed himself for not having the courage to get up and talk to Alyce.

She was just so pretty and sweet, he knew the possibility was high for her to ridicule him after him blatantly ignoring her during Calculus.

Still, he found his legs moving towards her place at the table.

She looked up at him with one dark brown eyebrow raised.

"Hello Oliver," she greeted him.

"H-hi Alyce. I um, I just wanted to apologize for my behavior this morning. I had a lot on my mind," he explained. She just nodded and took another bite out of her sandwich. Oliver stood there, twiddling his thumbs as other people began to notice him standing in front of the small girl.

Bobby, the school's resident bully scoffed at Oliver.

"Hey, cutie, this freak bothering you?" he jeered.

"No, we were just talking, thank you," she responded primly. Bobby narrowed his eyes and walked away to his table in the middle of the cafeteria.

"May I sit with you?" Oliver asked Alyce. She nodded slightly and he walked around to sit next to her.

"Where's your lunch?" Alyce asked. He didn't want to admit that he didn't have money to buy food and that his foster home only fed him dinner and occasionally breakfast.

"I forgot it at home," he lied. Alyce tore off half of her sandwich and set it in front of Oliver. "Oh, no thanks, I'll be fine," he said.

"Just eat it, it'll be good for you," she responded.

He reluctantly took the sandwich and bit into it. It was one of the best sandwiches he'd eaten in a long, long time. He closed his eyes and savored the taste. She giggled softly.

"I made it myself! You like it?" she asked.

Oliver nodded and continued to eat the sandwich. Alyce smiled proudly and polished off her half.

"What class do you have next?" she asked him. He swallowed the rest of the sandwich and answered,

"Psychology."

"No way! Me too!" she exclaimed. He smirked.

"Good luck, Psychology is my _best_ subject," he gloated.

"How peculiar! It's my best as well," she smirked, a slight gleam in her eye. It seemed like a challenge to Oliver. He accepted the challenge with gusto.

He was going to show her just how great he really was.


	2. Chapter 2

When Psychology class came around, Oliver felt more than a bit of competition with Alyce.

To his surprise, she was good. She was too good, actually.

She was able to answer all of the teacher's questions. As was he! He answered quite a few questions, in fact.

She knew far too much about Sigmund Freud and the Oedipus Complex.

But he also knew much about Harlow's Experiments, able to provide ample detail on his 'Pit of Despair'.

Whenever Alyce would answer a question correctly, she would look at him and smile smugly.

_Brat._

He effectively showed her up by thoroughly explaining to the teacher all that he knew on 'The Monster Study' and its information on stuttering.

She shot back quickly with the Capgras Delusion.

They both went back and forth until the bell rang. The teacher look extremely flustered by all they knew.

Oliver shot a glare towards Alyce for getting the last word in before the bell rang. She smirked at him. He wanted to take that smirk off of her mouth. In any means possible.

Oliver went to Sociology and Alyce went to a Greek Mythology class, leaving him to think about Alyce. And vice versa.

* * *

><p>They saw each other again in Biology. They sat together again as neither one of them had anyone to sit with.<p>

Both were extremely bored in the class, either because of the simple subject matter, or the teacher's droning, monotonous voice.

Alyce stole a glance or two at Oliver when he wasn't paying attention, and he stared at her when she was looking away from him. They both sat in awkward silence, looking at one another when they were sure they wouldn't be found out.

Finally, the bell rang. Oliver nearly sprinted out of the classroom. It would take a long time to walk home, and he had chores and homework to do.

He decided to cut through the woods and stop by his childhood tree. He used to climb it all the time when he was younger.

Oliver took off his thick glasses and cleaned them on his shirt.

He resumed walking, and just when he got back onto the road to take a shortcut, it began to thunder and rain.

_Fucking perfect._

The rain started out gentle, but soon, it was coming down hard. Oliver readjusted his messenger bag and ducked his head before braving the storm.

Cars were going by with his classmates driving.

_Lucky bastards._

Not one of them offered to let him out of the rain.

He wished it didn't take so long to walk home. It had been about 20 minutes of him walking, and it would be about half an hour before he got home. He sighed and shook some of the water out of his hair, although it did no good.

A Chevrolet rolled past him before backing up to stroll along next to him.

_Great. Now I get to be made fun of outside of school,_ Oliver thought, bitterly.

"Hey! Do you need a ride?"

He squinted at the unknown driver. It looked like Alyce!

He nodded and the car stopped for him to climb in. He put his bag on the ground and slid into the car.

Alyce turned on the heat.

"Where do you live?" She asked."

"1800 Forrest Avenue," he answered. He inwardly swore at himself. Now she was going to see the terrible house he grew up in.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

They finally arrived at his house and his cheeks were burning with embarrassment. He lived in a one-story pig-sty with greedy foster parents and an abusive foster brother.

"I'll walk you up," Alyce said, opening her door. Oliver's mind raced. He didn't want to be rude to her, but he also didn't want her to see the deplorable state his home was in.

She walked around to his side and walked to the front door with him. When he approached the front steps, the door swung open, startling Alyce. It was his foster brother; he was drunk, as usual.

"Hey, bastard, you finally home? Do you got a girlfriend? What's the broad's name? Is she a good lay?" he slurred, the stench of whiskey permeating his person.

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use such language in front of a woman," he retorted, his nose wrinkling at the pig in front of him. Alyce seemed a bit scared, or shocked; maybe both.

"I would appreciate it if you would shut the fuck up," his foster brother, Phil spat. Oliver and Alyce watched as Phil stumbled to the couch and passed out on it.

Oliver didn't know what to say to Alyce. He wasn't sure if she would even want to speak to him again. Surely, she would go to school and tell everyone of the disgusting state his family life was in.

He turned to face her. She seemed shocked, her eyes wide, brows crinkled.

"I-" Oliver tried to say something, but she cut him off.

"Do you like staying here?" she asked, an eyebrow raised. Her question caught him off guard.

"N-no, not exactly," he responded.

"Do your parents hurt you?" She asked. He blinked in surprise. _What was with all the questions?_

"Um, s-sometimes, but not too badly," he stuttered. She nodded, almost understandingly.

"Do you want to stay at my house? We have enough room, and I'm sure my daddy won't mind," she offered. He felt shocked. He just met this girl today, and already she was offering him a place to stay? Was there something wrong with her?

"I, uh, don't think your parents will want me at your house, especially not your father," he explained. She seemed almost insulted.

"He won't have a problem with it! And if he does, he can deal with it."

"I don't think my parents would like that," he told her.

"How old are you?" she asked.

"Seventeen," he responded. _One more year and I'm finally out of the System._

"Oh. I'm sure since you're almost of age, they wouldn't mind," she said. He shrugged. They didn't give two shits about him anyways, so why would they care if he stayed with someone?

"I'll just leave a note telling them where I'll be. They probably won't care, though."

He seemed to have a friend.

He seemed to have someone who actually cares about him.

It felt nice.


	3. Chapter 3

As he suspected, Alyce lived in a nice house. She lived in a _really_ nice house.

_Of course she's rich,_ Oliver thought bitterly. _Her parents can afford to buy her a brand new car; why wouldn't they be able to afford this?_

Alyce's home was a three story, Usonian beauty. Oliver felt a familiar twinge of jealousy. Sure, Alyce was nice. She was sweet, and his only friend, but he instantly found himself wishing to be in her place.

Alyce parked the car in her family's driveway before taking the keys out of the ignition and getting out of the car.

"Hey, you coming?" she called out to Oliver. He felt his cheeks flush. He didn't realize that he'd been sitting in her car for a while. He quickly grabbed his schoolbag and a tote with his clothes before following Alyce into the house.

She opened the door, allowing him to walk in first.

"Mom! I'm home," she called out. "She's probably in the kitchen making snacks. Are you hungry?"

Oliver barely registered that she had even spoken. He was in absolute awe. The marble floors were beautiful, the walls had intricate drawings etched into them, and the house smelled of fresh air and cookies, a far cry from the usual stench of urine and whiskey.

Alyce tugged on his arm to get him to follow her into the kitchen.

"Hey mom! I've brought over a friend. I hope you don't mind," she told her mother. Alyce's mom was slim and pretty. She had green eyes and russet-coloured hair.

_Alyce must have gotten her looks from her father, _Oliver surmised.

"Hello, young lad! I see my daughter has made a friend!" she beamed at him. He smiled.

"It seems so! My name is Oliver," he introduced himself.

"Paula," she said, gesturing towards herself. "My husband, Thomas, should be home from work at any moment. I'm cooking spaghetti for dinner. Is that alright with you, Oliver?"

"Yes, ma'am! It's my favourite," he said, meekly, a bit ashamed of his sudden outburst. Paula laughed, amused.

"I'm glad!"

Oliver looked over at Alyce, she was grinning happily at him, joyed to see that her mother liked him.

"Hey mom, can I talk to you for a second?" Alyce asked.

"Of course, honey! We'll be right back, Oliver," Paula smiled.

Alyce took her mother into the living room and explained what was going on with Oliver and his foster family. Paula was saddened at the thought of such a terrible family.

"We may need to call his foster home, though. They may not know where he is and we could get in quite a bit of trouble," she explained to her daughter.

"Oh, no it's okay! I told Oliver to write down our phone number on a piece of paper. I don't think they'll call," she answered. Her mom was appeased and they joined Oliver in the kitchen.

"Do you know how long you would like to stay, Oliver?" Paula asked.

He honestly wasn't sure. He should probably only stay for a night or two; he didn't want to anger his foster parents.

"A night will be fine, Missus," he replied.

"Alright. I hope you know that you'll be welcome at any time," she smiled. Oliver was in shock. He had never met anyone so nice and accepting of him. Most people judged his second-hand clothes. Paula was accepting of him. Now he knew why Alyce was so accepting of different people; she was taught to be kind.

* * *

><p>Hopefully her father was just as accepting…<p>

Alyce had an extremely intimidating father.

That was the first thing Oliver took note of.

The second was that he was extremely protective of his daughter.

He gave Oliver the death glare as Oliver held out his hand for Alyce's father to shake.

His handshake was also pretty firm. Oliver winced.

"So, how'd you meet my little girl?" he questioned.

"Um, well, she helped me pick my things back up when I tripped," he explained. Her father raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly.

"How long are you staying here?" he asked. Oliver swallowed nervously. He wasn't too sure he liked Alyce's dad…

"She invited me for the night, sir," he answered, looking down at the plate of food on the table. This was almost as bad as being around his asshole foster brother.

"Hm, alright then; what's your name, son?" He stared Oliver down. His eyes were an eerie shade of blue; it made Oliver even more uncomfortable.

"My name is Oliver Thredson, sir," he tried answering confidently. It didn't really work. Being louder wasn't quite the same as being more confident, it seemed.

"Just call me David, Oliver," Alyce's father smiled at him for the first time. Oliver was extremely confused. "You seem like a good kid. I can tell my daughter enjoys your company. Hopefully not too much," he said, sending Oliver a warning glare.

"Oh, no sir! She's a good friend," he nervously explained. David nodded and began eating, signalling to everybody else to begin as well.

It was the best spaghetti Oliver ever had.

* * *

><p>To his delight, Oliver found that Alyce enjoyed drawing and playing music. She had a piano in her bedroom as well as countless filled sketchbooks. Oliver opened one filled with cartoon-ish characters.<p>

Alyce had explained that she would love to create comic strips for the newspapers.

The more he got to know Alyce, the more he began to open up himself.

He revealed to her that he used to be in band in middle school after years of saving up from the money that the Childs' Protective Service allotted him each month. He had saved up for years, originally thinking about putting his money towards contacts. He figured perhaps the kids at school would stop bullying him so much if he got rid of the cursed frames marring his face.

"No, I like your glasses," Alyce protested when he told her that he wanted contacts. She scooted over to him, tracing along the metallic rims of his glasses. " I like the way you look. You look like a doctor," she giggled.

Oliver felt his cheeks flush. No one had ever complimented him before her. She made him feel at least a little bit better about his looks.

"Uh, thanks. I like your hair?" he offered awkwardly. He never was very good at complimenting anyone.

Especially girls.

Still, Alyce smiled widely and hugged him. He was a bit caught off guard. No one had ever hugged him before.

_Touch spoils the child_.

Well, if so, he was having a wonderful time being spoiled.


	4. Chapter 4

"Here, it's not the most comfortable place to sleep, but it's still pretty cozy, I suppose."

Alyce had some sort of couch/ bed contraption. She had unfolded it and it turned into a bed.

"It's called a futon," she told him.

Oliver had never seen anything so interesting! Alyce retrieved some blankets and a pillow from the guest room and brought them to hers.

She even had her own television! He honestly wasn't sure the last time he had watched the endless images on a television without his disgusting pig of a foster brother or his abusive foster parents breathing cruelty down the back of his neck.

"Um, thank you Alyce. Thank you for everything. I don't quite know how I can ever repay you, but one day, I _promise_ I'll find a way to pay you back for everything." Oliver never was too good at thanking people, but he knew she deserved his genuine thanks for her kindness. No one else in his entire life had ever shown him friendship or sanctuary from his rotten foster home- until Alyce. He felt completely indebted to her. Her skin looked slightly flushed. Was she embarrassed?

"It's no problem, Oliver. Uh, goodnight!"

Did he say anything to upset her? He didn't quite think so… Alas, he lied down on the futon and closed his eyes.

Oliver hadn't slept so well in years.

* * *

><p>"Rise and shine, Oliver!"<p>

Her voice was the first thing his brain registered. He then realized that she was jumping on the futon in an attempt to wake him up. He slowly opened his eyes. The sunlight filtered in through the thin curtains was extremely bright. Ugh.

"Get dressed, silly! We're going to be late for Physics," Alyce insisted. He got up, put his glasses on, and took his clothes for that day into the bathroom.

_Perfect. Another day in hell_, Oliver thought. He quickly donned a white undershirt, a blue and white striped button down, and some light brown khakis. Hopefully Alyce wouldn't make fun of his clothes. He exited the bathroom and found Alyce waiting on him, car keys in hand.

"Let's go, slowpoke!"

She grabbed his hand and ran out of her house, telling him to just put what he needed in the back of her car. Within minutes, they were in the school's parking lot. Oliver sighed internally. As much as he enjoyed learning, school never was more than a begrudging necessity.

They both got out of the car, grabbed their book-bags, and walked into AP Physics with three minutes to spare. They both plopped down into the seats they had sat in the previous day and engaged in idle chatter before the class truly started.

"So, you won't be able to stay another night at my house, will you?" Alyce asked him. Oliver shook his head.

"It probably wouldn't be for the best," he responded. He wasn't actually sure if his foster parents would let him off the hook for leaving last night. Perhaps they wouldn't notice, the drunkards that they were.

Their teacher cleared his throat to gain the class' attention. They weren't going to be doing much today; it was just a quick worksheet on understanding the difference between speed and velocity. Oliver mentally rolled his eyes and began working on the asinine task.

He was one of the first people done with the paper, per usual. He just gave the sheet to his teacher and sat back down. Alyce seemed to have gotten a bit distracted and was currently drawing little cartoon people on her worksheet. Oliver smiled a bit.

_She's cute_..

Eventually, Alyce finished her boring worksheet and turned it in to the teacher as well. Once she returned to their desk, the both of them began talking quietly to each other.

Oliver felt happy.

* * *

><p>Calculus was awful. Although Alyce was in the class with him, they were all given a long test to determine how much they all knew about the subject.<p>

_I hate tests, damn it, _Oliver thought. He sighed and got to work.

Once the bell finally rang, he didn't get to talk to Alyce, since she wasn't in Anatomy with him.

He felt even more lonely than usual that day.

* * *

><p>He finally saw her at lunch. She had an apple and two sandwiches that day along with two bottles of water. Was she staying after school late today? He sat beside her and she smiled once she saw him.<p>

"Hi, Oliver!" she greeted him happily. "I made another sandwich for you!" She pushed the second sandwich and bottle of water towards him. He gratefully accepted it.

"Thank you, Alyce," he said. Damn it, his voice got all quiet and raspy. Fucking puberty..

Like yesterday, the sandwich was amazing, although he didn't think there was anything that Alyce couldn't do perfectly.

* * *

><p>They were in Psychology together, glaring at each other again. Alyce had just proved Oliver completely wrong on one of his theories, and he was more than a bit upset.<p>

"Your work clearly needs more work, since most of your theories can quickly be rebutted by me," she said, a smirk on her face. The bell rang, cutting off a truly brilliant comeback from Oliver. He followed her into the hall; she was still smirking. He found a small alcove and cornered her. Her dark eyes were wide with excitement, perhaps? Probably fear, Oliver decided. He leaned in closer to her. Her strawberry scent was completely enveloping him. He wanted to take that little boastful smirk off of her face.. Was she shivering against him?

The longer he stood there, doing nothing, the more his confidence diminished. He was about to move away to let her leave when he felt her arms around his neck, and her lips against his own.

_Strawberries. Fucking strawberries. I'll never be able to even look at strawberries again without tasting her in my mouth._

Her lips were soft and warm. His probably felt chapped against hers.

Alyce didn't seem to know what she was doing, although neither did Oliver. He moved his lips against hers and carefully wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer to him. She was so soft against his body. He never wanted to leave.

He then came back to reality. They most definitely were not alone, kissing in some isolated area. No, they were kissing in the middle of the damn hallway at their miserable school. Oliver felt terrible. If they were to get caught, Alyce could get in a lot of trouble..

He ended the kiss quickly.

She looked at him, confused.

"I-I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry, Oliver," she apologized to him.

"No! No, it's not you, I promise. I was just surprised by it, that's all. I liked it, a lot," he admitted. Her mouth curved into a smile and Oliver couldn't help but memorize the soft, cupid's bow curve of her mouth. He couldn't help but take another deep whiff of her hair before walking off to Sociology.

_Fuck. _

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

_She's so perfect. I need her._

_She deserves better, but damn it, don't I deserve something too?! I've suffered for so long. And then, she comes along with her fucking strawberries and her goddamned soft lips and her dark eyes and her fucking body.._

_Fucking hell. I want her. _


End file.
